Vendée Globe 1st February update: When instincts take over
by Vendée Globe media 1 Feb 07:03 PST
1 February 2025
Photo sent from the boat Singchain Team Haikou during the Vendée Globe sailing race on January 30, 2024 © Jingkun Xu
Some skippers are better than others at switching off some of the critical brain functions, trusting the innate instincts and just letting the IMOCA go fast.
When everything is telling them to take the foot off the accelerator they are able to just maintain that life on the absolute edge for longer, normalising it. For many this feeling also builds up over time on the Vendée Globe race course, when two months ago 35 knots of wind speed felt like the world was going to explode, now it feels normal.
But there is also always the equation 'the faster you go, the more stress and pain there is but the faster you get home.' And right now that is a big part of what is driving the sailors out on the Vendée Globe race course...
That is what occupies the mind of Jean Le Cam (Tout Commence en Finistère - Armor-lux, 20th), "There are between 30 and 38 knots, it is not very comfortable. What's to come? I lie down on my bunk, I close my ears, and I let time pass! When you sleep, at least you do not think, there is not much to do. I hit a peak at 28 knots, that is big. I do not have a J2, but for those who have a J2, it must have been even more horrible!"
While Le Cam might appear more relaxed because of his experience, Damien Seguin (Groupe APICIL, 15th) is just flying, making 446 miles 24 hours. After a small strategic hitch to the North, the Paralympic champion is now set up for the incoming front which will push him into the Bay of Biscay, pushed by Benjamin Ferré (Monnoyeur - Duo for a Job, 16th), Alan Roura (Hublot, 17th) and Tanguy Le Turquais (Lazare, 18th) all pushing on his heels.
Italy's Giancarlo Pedote (Prysmian, 22nd) is seeing the peloton escape ahead of him but his fragile rudder system is not up to the chase:
"Every time I accelerate too much, I saw it yesterday, something happens with my rudder, it is tired, I have to accept that. I prefer not to push too much and want to just finish into Les Sables d'Olonne. But my state of mind is that I am really starting to feel that the end is coming." - Giancarlo Pedote, PRYSMIAN.
Violette Dorange (Devenir, 25th) is out of the trade winds, the youngest ever skipper reports, "I think I'm still tired, the fact of never sleeping in a long nap just builds the fatigue. I have never felt lonely from start to finish, just a little missing my family, but not the feeling of being alone in the world! Sometimes I get a little bored, often when the conditions are difficult and I can't move in my boat, like these last few days when I was forced to stay inside. But I tell myself that it's the end of the race, I have to make the most of it, I'm already nostalgic, telling myself that it will soon be over, it has been incredible!" - Violette Dorange, DeVenir.
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